How's your overall fitness? I can't speak to FMA specifics but for martial arts in general you can learn a lot more in class if your fitness is good enough so that you're working on technique rather than not puking.

I'm sure there will be plenty of "go find a real teacher" posts here, so I'll say something a little different. Can a person cultivate a good baseball bat, tennis racket, or golf swing using solo training methods? In my opinion, absolutely. There are a number of details in body mechanics that can be honed by oneself and training devices- how one incorporates all of the joints into a basic asterisk pattern of strikes, what one does with the alive hand, lightness on the feet and a stance that's the correct foot position and balance distribution, when to tense and when to relax. There's plenty of details that can be worked on before ever working with another person.

Of course, stickfighting, like all types of fighting, is a relational activity, so a partner is needed to fully practice. I'd say stickfighting is properly learned with at least 2/3 of time focused on partner drills.

A stack of tires is a good place to start to learn how to hit with power. My favorite training device for solo work is a hanging training cross, called a desquerdes. Here's my old one:

There's a DVD by James Keating that shows how to build one and how to practice with it. Part of its usefulness is that you can experiment and play around with unarmed and armed techniques and explore the common themes between stickfighting and the skills you've already learned.

Of course, there's also the concern that learning on your own will lead to bad habits you will have to unlearn later if/when you learn from a real teacher. I found the opposite true though- I fought in a few stickfighting events before I started FMA proper (I just had a kung fu with weapons + fencing background) and did okay, and I think I was actually better able to pick up FMA since, rather than making it more difficult.

If you are planning on attending a specific FMA school in the future, I would talk with that instructor about recommended resources. My first exposure to FMA training was the "Real Contact Stick Fighting" series, and the teaching method for the first three tapes was taught by Eric "Top Dog" Knauss, and he taught what was largely Pekiti fundamentals. My friend and I diligently followed those tapes, and then I was able to get real instruction, but the instructor I could find was a Serrada Eskrima guy, lets just say what I had practiced via the tapes wasn't at all applicable to the Serrada training method.

So talk to that Modern Arnis school you are planning on attending in the future and see if you can't get a crash course (via privates or whatever) to get an idea of what they teach and then use a supplement that they recommend.

Simple breakdown of some attributes that you need to be a stickfighter, and if you can train them solo:

Conditioning: Yes
Good form swinging: Yes
Combinations: Yes
Targeting: Yes for simple targeting. Defensive targeting of opponent (moving hands, etc.), no.
Making impact with something: Yes (tire drills, etc.)
Footwork: Somewhat (simple footwork is fine, reactionary adjustments, no)
Blocks: No
Checking: Not too much
Evasion: Not too much
Timing: Not too much (Can use a dummy such as Permalost's for some training)
Reactions: No
Angle recognition for defense: No
Entanglement: No
Disarms: No
Takedowns: Not so much (can use a dummy, but limited)
Range finding: Yes for offense, no for defense

This isn't a definitive list by any means, but it'll give you some idea of what you can do solo, and what you can't.

The desquerdes in that picture has been the best thing I've used in solo training for working on hitting moving hands. Each end of the "arms" has a tennis ball in it, and when you hit it, the thing spins, creating a hand-sized moving target that swing in from alternating sides. It also helps the other side of the coin of targeting- the part of the stick you're hitting with. Its how I focused on hitting with the last few inches of the weapon.

Hit the tire. Hit it a MEEEEELLLLLIIIIONN times. Hit it like you want to kill it!

Go through your forms and practice every strike on the tire or bag or tree or whatever you have.

Take the time to focus on your body mechanics and really master each movement.

Work out like mad and boost your strength and endurance.

New techniques may be all but impossible to develope without outside input, but absent of that this is a chance to bury yourself in the basics you already know. All the flashy dance moves in the world mean **** all if they don't hurt when you deliver the strike. So work on building that POWER.

I'm sure there will be plenty of "go find a real teacher" posts here, so I'll say something a little different. Can a person cultivate a good baseball bat, tennis racket, or golf swing using solo training methods? In my opinion, absolutely. There are a number of details in body mechanics that can be honed by oneself and training devices- how one incorporates all of the joints into a basic asterisk pattern of strikes, what one does with the alive hand, lightness on the feet and a stance that's the correct foot position and balance distribution, when to tense and when to relax. There's plenty of details that can be worked on before ever working with another person.

Of course, stickfighting, like all types of fighting, is a relational activity, so a partner is needed to fully practice. I'd say stickfighting is properly learned with at least 2/3 of time focused on partner drills.

A stack of tires is a good place to start to learn how to hit with power. My favorite training device for solo work is a hanging training cross, called a desquerdes. Here's my old one:

There's a DVD by James Keating that shows how to build one and how to practice with it. Part of its usefulness is that you can experiment and play around with unarmed and armed techniques and explore the common themes between stickfighting and the skills you've already learned.

Of course, there's also the concern that learning on your own will lead to bad habits you will have to unlearn later if/when you learn from a real teacher. I found the opposite true though- I fought in a few stickfighting events before I started FMA proper (I just had a kung fu with weapons + fencing background) and did okay, and I think I was actually better able to pick up FMA since, rather than making it more difficult.

I've heard of the desquerdes before, but I don't really know anything about it. Do you primarily just do the tennis ball thing with that contraption, or can you hang tires off of it for training power generation?

Hit the tire. Hit it a MEEEEELLLLLIIIIONN times. Hit it like you want to kill it!

Go through your forms and practice every strike on the tire or bag or tree or whatever you have.

Take the time to focus on your body mechanics and really master each movement.

Work out like mad and boost your strength and endurance.

New techniques may be all but impossible to develope without outside input, but absent of that this is a chance to bury yourself in the basics you already know. All the flashy dance moves in the world mean **** all if they don't hurt when you deliver the strike. So work on building that POWER.

BREAK THE TREE!!!!

I'd forgotten that Oyama said he got good when he picked out a tree and hit it (for at least a month) til it died.

"Preparing mentally, the most important thing is, if you aren't doing it for the love of it, then don't do it." - Benny Urquidez

I've heard of the desquerdes before, but I don't really know anything about it. Do you primarily just do the tennis ball thing with that contraption, or can you hang tires off of it for training power generation?

Its not really robust enough for tires, but it can be outfitted with a big ring in the middle like a Celtic cross, which provides small phasic targets to strike into (because it spins, the holes open and close, and turn to other angles). Moreso than a hand hitting simulator, it is used to simulate limbs swinging around a central axis, which is kinda what a flailing fighter is. It can be used to check, pass, snake, lock (you can throw your weight into straight armlocks and arm wrenches), slip, stop hit, counter-cut etc. If you swing it back and forth instead of swinging it circularly it simulates a straight line coming in. Its decent at teaching you how to always be using both of your hands.

The desquerdes can take an okay hit, but its PVC core wrapped in pipe insulation wrapped in duct tape, so its not great for hard power hits. I was able to destroy my first one with power hits that cracked through the "skeleton", shattering it into pieces with each hit, but that was intentionally to destroy it to make a new one. It held up well for a long time before I did that, and I would hit it with strikes to the hands/forearms, as well as tigbas across the midsection.

Desquerdes can be made out of all sorts of materials. I've wanted to make a rattan one for a while.